Chapter 41: Bomb Disposal Squad?

“Uh, hello! Hey, take care on your way.”

There were a lot of people waiting to greet Taewoon, so it was hard to have a longer conversation.

“Okay.”

“See you on set tomorrow~”

Since we were going to see each other again anyway, I pushed my curiosity aside until tomorrow and left the venue with Jibin.

“How far are you going? I’ll drop you off on the way.”

“It’s fine. I can just take public transportation.”

“You’re going to squeeze in with all of Taewoon hyung’s fans outside and ride like that? You’ve got some nerve~”

“Ah.”

I usually didn’t get recognized at all, so I hadn’t even thought that far.

“Just get in.”

“Then please drop me off on the way.”

It felt uncomfortable to be awkwardly packed in with a bunch of fans, so I chose Jibin instead.

“Got it. Let’s go, let’s go!”

Jibin led me to where his car was parked, and among the countless cars there, one in particular caught my eye.

No way… It can’t be.

And then the impossible became reality.

“Ta-da~ What do you think? I really went all out and bought it.”

The moment I saw the car, I understood why he’d insisted on driving me.

Jibin’s car had the low profile and gleaming exterior unique to high-end sports cars, and at its center, a winged logo radiated authority.

“Th-this is… your car?”

“This hyung emptied his wallet! What do you think? Isn’t it insane? Cool, right?”

“Wow…”

What was I supposed to do with this man-child?

Even if I didn’t know much about cars, I knew perfectly well how expensive something like this was.

If Kyungho had been here, he would’ve smacked him on the back immediately.

“I thought my neck was going to snap waiting for you to come out. Get in.”

Jibin carefully opened the door, as if even a scratch would be disastrous, and gently closed it after me.

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

Inside, the leather seats still smelled new, and everything screamed brand-new.

“Isn’t it killer? The ride’s amazing, right?”

“Yeah, it is.”

I couldn’t really tell the difference, but I didn’t want to disappoint Jibin when he was this excited, so I pretended to be suitably impressed.

“I went to buy this, and guess what? Iron bought the exact same model not long ago.”

“Who?”

“You saw him earlier. Iron. My eye for things is this good~”

“Ah, are you close with Iron and Han Jungwoo?”

I asked just in case Jibin might know.

If it was just simple acquaintance, there’d be no need to worry.

“Not sure. I don’t think I’ve heard that they’re close. Why?”

“It’s nothing.”

“I was seriously jealous. Someone who’s about to enlist buys an imported car he won’t even get to drive much.”

The military?

The moment he said that, something Jinseok had said before came back to me.

He said Han Jungwoo was worried about his military issue.

Was it really a coincidence that two people about to enlist were tangled up like this?

Something inside me was insisting it couldn’t be.

“They say Iron paid in full. I guess a car like this is nothing to him. Ugh, so jealous.”

“What has that member, Iron, been up to lately?”

I wanted to know a bit more about him.

“How would I know? He composes too, so his copyright royalties are insane. If that kind of money dropped into my account every month, I wouldn’t do anything at all!”

“Ah~ royalties…”

“When you look at it like that, being a real idol is insanely sweet. I should’ve become an idol when I was younger. What a waste.”

Until he dropped me off, Jibin went on passionately about how much money idols made.

“Thanks for the ride.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow~”

The moment I parted ways with Jibin, I immediately called someone.

There’s only one person who’d know this kind of thing.

***

“Now you remember I exist?”

Jiwon lay sprawled across my bed, glaring at me as I sat in a chair.

“I was thinking about you the whole time. I figured no news was good news.”

“Don’t think you can get away with that.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

Even I thought I’d gone too long without contacting him, so I nodded quickly.

Still, it was true that I’d been busy preparing for auditions and filming.

“I have to go to a shoot this afternoon too. This hyung’s pretty busy.”

“So that’s why you called me over this early in the morning?”

“Haha, you don’t really have a day or night anyway. Oh, I packed the stuff you lent me.”

While playing Donghyeok’s role in Blue Sky Spring, I’d borrowed a few things like shoes and bags from Jiwon.

Since I was playing a rich kid, I couldn’t exactly carry cheap stuff, and it had been Jiwon’s idea.

“I gave you stuff I don’t use. Don’t give it back! It’s all trash to me.”

He waved both hands wildly, refusing with exaggerated fervor.

“I’m playing a poor role this time, so I don’t need it.”

A fruit seller wearing luxury brands would be way too strange.

“I still refuse. Even if you’re poor now, you’ll play a rich role someday. Use it then.”

“When will that ever be?”

“Anyway, I’m not taking it back. Have you ever seen me use stuff like that more than once? Don’t dump your luggage on me.”

In the end, Jiwon’s belongings failed to return to their owner and instead settled into a corner of my room.

“So.”

Jiwon, who’d been lying down, propped his upper body against the wall.

“Huh?”

“So~ you didn’t call me over for no reason.”

This guy really was sharp.

“Okay, think about it. Someone who lacks nothing—money, popularity, fame.”

“L†?”

“Ah…”

“Got it. That person. Why?”

“That person is about to enlist.”

“Oh~”

Jiwon smiled with interest, fully absorbed in my story.

And yet he buys something he won’t even be able to use once he’s in the military. Like an expensive imported car.

“Hmm~”

“And then, while talking about how expensive it was and how reliable it was, he mentioned the name of another person who’s also about to enlist. They don’t seem close… so what is that?”

“From the moment you said someone who has everything is about to enlist, it’s already over. Why are you even asking?”

He spoke with absolute confidence.

“I could tell the moment I heard it.”

“W-what… do you mean?”

Good thing I asked him.

I had no idea what the connection was, but Jiwon caught it immediately.

“People like us, who have everything, have our life plans laid out from birth, you know? And do you know what the very first thing in that plan is?”

“No.”

I dragged my chair closer, focusing on his words.

“The military. More precisely, how to avoid the military.”

“What?”

They went that far just to avoid it?

“Unless you’re planning to go into politics, the military is the one thing everyone tries desperately to dodge.”

“What about you?”

“You didn’t know? I have dual citizenship. I don’t have to go.”

Dual citizenship?

That was the first I’d heard of it.

“Wow… how did I not know?”

“Of course someone who has everything wouldn’t want to go. From what you’re saying, it sounds like a broker.”

“A broker? What’s that?”

“Someone who manipulates things so you can get exempted and takes money for it.”

“Ah!”

When I thought about it that way, Iron’s conversations suddenly made sense.

The problem was that all of this was still circumstantial.

“So that’s it…”

“Whoever it is, sounds like they’re trying to get exempted as a public service worker through a broker. Is it someone you hate? Want me to help?”

“No. It’s fine.”

It would be easy with Jiwon’s help, but I intended to take my revenge with my own hands.

“Really? Then tell me anytime if you need help. Oh, and what about Jayden?”

“Jayden?”

Did we even have something like that at my place?

“What do you mean, at our place—”

“Jayden~ Jayden!”

Jiwon called toward the door, and I heard the tap-tap-tap of something running.

A brown creature dashed in and leaped into Jiwon’s arms.

“Woof woof woof—“

The Pomeranian enthusiastically licked Jiwon’s face, showing off its affection.

“Aww~ Where were you playing?”

It looked like Jiwon had been visiting the animal clinic while I was gone, getting close to Hyeoncheol.

“Hey, since when did he become Jayden?”

I distinctly remembered giving him the sturdy name Hyeoncheol.

Who decided he was Jayden?

“Where did you even get such a tacky name?”

“Hey, what’s tacky about it? Jayden is tackier!”

“You’re slapping a name that sounds like it’d sing trot onto such a cute little guy.”

I’d agonized over that name, and now he was calling it trot.

“Jayden, come here! All three of you, come downstairs and eat.”

Even Kyungho downstairs was calling Hyeoncheol Jayden.

I’d been busy day and night because my screen time increased, and this happened while I wasn’t looking.

Even the old man… calls him Jayden.

“Did you hear that? Jayden~ Daddy’s calling. Let’s go.”

“Hey, you tell him. Hyeoncheol is better, right?”

“Woof! Woof!“

Tacky. Childish.

When I called him, he didn’t say a thing.

“Hey, you—after everything I did for you, you liked it when I first named you!”

So this was what they meant when they said you couldn’t trust a single dog in this world.

***

The set of Today’s Fruit Shop.

“Did you see it? The photo I posted on StarStar yesterday got over eighty thousand hearts.”

Jibin started bragging about StarStar the moment he saw me.

It was probably Taewoon’s fans swarming in from the fan meeting photo, but Jibin was proud of the number.

“I told you these kinds of photos get tons of hearts. My followers jumped by three thousand in one go!”

“Congrats.”

“So what’s up?”

While I was listening to Jibin talk about StarStar, Taewoon appeared after getting his styling checked.

“We were talking about StarStar.”

“He posted photos from your fan meeting yesterday, and his followers increased by three thousand!”

“Really?”

Taewoon reacted mechanically, seemingly uninterested.

“As expected, Taewoon hyung—”

“Jibin~ outfits!”

“Oh, right. I was supposed to change outfits.”

A voice called out to Jibin from afar, and he hurried off in that direction.

“Did you get home okay yesterday? It was so hectic I didn’t even see you leave.”

“I did. But what did you mean by what you said yesterday?”

“What?”

Taewoon stared at me with wide eyes, like he had no memory of it at all.

“The bomb disposal squad.”

“Ah~ that? You really don’t know anything about BIP. Isn’t that a bit much?”

Even so, once we decided to do the drama together, I’d at least looked up their representative songs.

“Still, to kids your age, I should be practically a god.”

“I don’t really watch TV.”

Even when I was a dog, I’d only watched dramas or movies.

I hadn’t paid much attention to idols.

“There was a time when we topped the charts and people said if you didn’t know our songs in Korea, you were a spy!”

Apparently frustrated that I didn’t know much about his group, Taewoon launched into an explanation of BIP.

“We won the grand prize so many times…”

“Guys usually aren’t interested in male idols.”

“To be treated like this one day…”

“Hyung, stop talking about your latte days and hurry.”

“Fine. You’re talking about Iron hyung, right? In one word, he’s a free spirit.”

A free spirit?

Maybe that was because he composed.

“…That’s just how fans sugarcoat it. In reality, he’s a guy who does whatever he wants and doesn’t act his age.”

As expected, Taewoon’s words were more accurate than anything on the internet.

Since I was the youngest, he listened to me somewhat, but back when we were active, cleaning up after that hyung was still—

“Ugh~”

Taewoon shook his head, as if even now the memory made him dizzy.

“Hyung, I saw that member keeps a dog.”

If the heavens were on my side, Iron happened to be raising a dog.

“Ah~ Bomi? Cute, right?”

“Hyung, didn’t you say before that we should film a YouTube video together?”

I started laying down bait to get accurate information.

“Yeah, but I haven’t decided what kind of content to do.”

Coincidentally, Taewoon had been growing his personal YouTube channel lately.

“I have a great idea.”

“What is it?”

“I’m really good at taking care of dogs… how about a one-day dog daycare?”

This was it.

It was time to show what I could do.